The Qixi Festival has come, and it has become the norm for men and women to express their love by sending gifts to each other.
According to JD.com's big data, in the week before the Chinese Valentine's Day last year, search terms related to "Tanabata" on the platform increased by 280% month-on-month, and "gift" and "send boyfriend/girlfriend" became hot words on the platform. Among them, delicate, high-quality and practical products have become the first choice for consumers to give gifts. Among consumers who purchased Qixi-related products, users born after 1985 to 1995 have increased significantly year-on-year, which is nearly 20% higher than the average data of the whole site.
It is not difficult to see from the data that young consumers attach importance to this festival and their enthusiasm for consumption is heating up, which is also creating special marketing opportunities for many brands.
Because of the special preferences of consumer groups, brands have very different attitudes towards the Qixi Festival. Sports and fast fashion brands rarely carry out large-scale marketing activities during the Qixi Festival due to the difficulty of giving gifts, but the light luxury and luxury brands that are "the first choice for gift giving" often show their strengths during the Qixi Festival.
As these affordable and luxury brands become more familiar with the Chinese marketing environment and consumers, their marketing strategies at the Qixi Festival are becoming more and more familiar. Judging from the situation of the marketing battlefield of Qixi Festival this year, there are many new trends in the marketing methods of the protagonists.
1. Customize gifts
Buying limited-edition products and gift boxes is the first choice for young people to give gifts during the Qixi Festival.
According to the "2021 Luxury User White Paper", Valentine's Day has become the main node for consumers to buy luxury goods, and the reason why luxury goods are the first choice is partly because of the sense of ritual it can provide. In order to meet this important sales window period, the brand will naturally strengthen the ceremonial tone of the brand during the Qixi Festival, for example, by launching limited models and gift box models, and using the Chinese market as the first launch place for new products.
This year, GUCCI launched a special series for Chinese Valentine's Day, covering shoes, shirts, bags, accessories and other categories. DIOR and Balenciaga also launched the Qixi Festival limited series, and the jewelry brand FRED chose to launch the heart-shaped double-sided necklace in the Chinese market. These luxury brands try to differentiate themselves from everyday items through new ways to meet consumers' gift-giving needs.
Of course, the shifts brands have made to cater to the market don't stop there. For example, customized services have always been exclusive to brand VIPs, but as young people’s personalized pursuits become more and more prominent, most luxury brands have put down their stature and lowered the threshold for obtaining customized models. Yes, you can enjoy some simple and operable DIY services, which is also one of the obvious trends for luxury goods in the Chinese market for Qixi Festival.
For example, YSL’s main limited lipstick gift box on Qixi Festival this year, as long as users who consume on the e-commerce platform can enjoy the engraving telemarketing list service, and the design process will be completed within 7 days. There are also many brands such as Jo Malone perfume and APM collarbone chain that have launched similar lettering services.
In fact, from a more far-reaching perspective, choosing to launch customized products in the Chinese market is a “one stone, two birds with one stone” strategy for luxury goods: in addition to stimulating consumers’ enthusiasm for shopping, customized products can also assist luxury brands in the Make a fuss from the point of view of brand building.
The essence of "customized" products is precise marketing based on consumers' aesthetics and preferences, which can also reflect the brand's understanding of the Chinese market, culture and consumers to a certain extent. According to the lettering services and limited editions that luxury brands are playing with nowadays, luxury brands that were once "unaccustomed to the environment" are now increasingly improving their localization strategies.